With population growth on the increase, the infrastructure of many large cities is under strain. The amount of vehicle parking is often at a premium and parking systems can be employed to regulate parking availability wherein users are charged a fee which is generally related to the amount of time their vehicle is parked in a given parking area. Parking systems are commonly used to regulate parking availability for metered parking and car parks.
AU 01/00192 discloses a parking system used for regulating metered parking wherein a meter is situated in close proximity to a corresponding parking bay. When a user's vehicle is parked, the user is generally required to pay a fee at the meter corresponding to the amount of time in which the user estimates that parking will be required. Once paid, the user effectively establishes an account.
Upon expiry of the account, the user may be subject to receiving a fine issued by a law enforcement officer if the vehicle remains parked within the parking bay regulated by the parking system. The account can be “topped up” by the user periodically, however, there is often a maximum allowable tim limit permitted for parking a vehicle in a given parking bay. Exceeding this limit could also undesirably result in the user being issued with a parking fine.
AU 03/00457 discloses a parking system for regulating parking in a car park comprising a plurality of parking spaces in which a vehicle can park. A user is issued with an account when initially parking and, in contrast to metered parking, the account time balance increases over time. The user is then charged a fee when exiting the car park which generally corresponds to the amount of time in which the user is parked within the car park.
WO 01/73701 discloses a method wherein a user may initiate a call from a mobile phone to a parking system and, when connected, check the credit balance linked to their pre-paid account. The onus is therefore undesirably on the user to check their credit balance and hence time remaining for a vehicle to be legitimately parked in a car park.